The Kletterwerks Flip Pack has multigenerational cred. Dana Gleason II is an avid outdoorsman with a passion for making great gear. He's been the driving force behind impeccable bag-making companies for decades. He founded Kletterwerks as his first backpack company in 1974 when he started repairing and building bags for the hardcore climbing and mountaineering community and began to dabble in his own designs. Pulled from the German “Kletter” meaning Climbing, and “Werks” meaning Plant, Kletterwerks was a “climbing factory” based in Bozeman, Montana. In order to afford a first minimum order of rusty red material from a new supplier called Cordura, he pooled resources with other young bag-obsessed gearheads (Murray Pletz later of Jansport, Dick Kelty of Kelty, and Wayne Gregory of Gregory). This first generation of bags was built with hard-earned design insight and some of the best material the outdooring world had ever seen.

Years later, Kletterwerks had been sold and then closed, but those first packs of the 1970s were still iconic and still functioning. Dana Gleason II had gone on to start Dana Designs and Mystery Ranch, two more bag companies known for bombproof construction and beloved by Navy SEALs and outdoor enthusiasts. His son, Dana Gleason III (or D3), grew up in the family bag trade and now has some of his own ideas to add to his father's work. In 2012 they brought back the Kletterwerks line, focusing on simple, burly designs, made correctly out of great materials. The Flip Pack (like its smaller compatriot the Day Pack) is an original design from that very first round of Kletterwerks backpacks, helpfully updated with a liner, densified urethane foam padding and a laptop sleeve. Just like in the beginning, Kletterwerks bags are individually made in Bozeman, this time by the same craftsman who build Mystery Ranch bags for the Navy SEALs. These are bags for bag lovers and bag destroyers who want traditional style without sacrificing anything.